//-------------------------------------------------------// The forgotten flame -by mad stallion- //-------------------------------------------------------// //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 1 //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 1 Manehatten wasn't like most city's in Equestria it was a city of death that didn't care for dreams or hopes only bits but still the city keeps on turning some call it the concrete jungle I called it the city of corpses where pony's went to rot. My target was iron fortress a corrupt politician who was taking a bit to much of the top messing with the food chain you could say unfortunately for him my contractors didn't like that. The stallion wasn't much to look at black fur brown mane blue eyes scar above his right hair a ferocious temper I've been following him for weeks finding out his routine where he lived who he knew and where he stayed. Turns out he doesn't even own property in manehatten guess he doesn't want to overlook the rot but he does stay at a fancy 5 star hotel when he does come to manehatten. That's why I'm standing outside of the fleus hotel it was six stories tall the front entrance was a door made of glass so you could see right into the reception next to it was a line of bushes on either side and a red carpet lead out from it coating the stairs in a fine red a doorpony to the left. "Can I get the door for you miss" the doorman said to me of course I wasn't exactly a mare I was using an illusion to make me look like my targets receptionist in reality I was a stallion gray fur and black mane, scar just above my eyes and my my snout also had a large scar running across from it. It seems our iron fortress was having an affair with his receptionist shocker I know so I also had to find out her routine and who she knew I also found out that she would pay visits to Mr iron fortress so of course I took advantage of that luckily for me the receptionist in question would be at home working on her soon to be hangover from to much drinking "Ah yes thank you." I replied to the doorman in a cheerful tone " have a nice night miss" the doorman said. "And to you to goodnight."as I walked through the glass door into the reception area now the desk was directly in front of me to my left and right there were tables and chairs probably for relaxation purposes of course as I got closer to the front desk I could see that here was a bar down the left side corridor and to my right was the elevator that would take me up a floor. "Ah miss bell it's a pleasure to see you again will you be visiting Mr iron today" the receptionist had said to me the mare in question was wearing a formal suit and shirt she had blue for and a brown mane of course I knew her name she was a dear friend of my illusion her name was sunny side she only just started a few months ago so she's relatively new to the job. "Oh hello sunny didn't know your shift started so late yes I'll be visiting iron today have a few reports that I need to go through with him." Giving her a smile and flicking my hair back. "Okay I'll call the elevator down for you also I know I shouldn't assume about our clients but Mr iron seemed to have brought some ahem." she coughed." Some less respectable mares up with him." She blushed and looked down. This alters my plan a bit originally I was going to make it look like a suicide hanged himself dues to his terrible of addiction of choking himself while he got dirty dog isn't he well now I'll just have to make it look like a lovers spat luckily I still have Miss bells DNA due to me needing it for the spell, unfortunately for those two mares they won't be leaving tonight no witnesses. I decided to make it known that I was not pleased about this development."HE WHAT BEHIND MY BACK WAIT TILL I GET MY HANDS OF HIM." without giving sunny the chance to reply I stormed off into the elevator going up to the third floor where my targets waited just like a city of corpses there won't be any mercy for the innocent. As I reached the third floor with an audible ding the doors opened leading out to a hallway where rooms lined either side my targets were on room 309 as turned left heading towards the lower number rooms my hooves made no noise on the red carpet as I crept further along as I reached the door I began my work I wouldn't drop my disguise yet pulling out a lockpick from my coat pocket I began my work unlocking the door. With a click it was open as I burst into the room catching iron fortress on top of a mare looking dumbly forward and another mare kissing the other mares face not realising that I haven't even entered the room I closed the door behind me I dropped my illusion spell and gave in to my true form I was wearing a black trench coat inside was a combat knife and a colt 45 revolver of course I won't use the revolver know due to Equestria banning all firearms the only way you can get them in is with smuggling them from the Griffin empire. I was also wearing black gloves on my hooves so I wouldn't leave a DNA trail and my face was covered in a black balaclava that covered my entire face my mouth and eyes included to give off a manaqueuin look my mane couldn't be seen and my fur was black thx to the spell that I had woven into my clothes to hide my real identity It also changed my cutie mark to a hammer. As I crept up closer holding the combat knife in my telekinesis I took in the detail of the two mares one had orange fur and a light blue mane the other was a deep red with a dark brown mane of course as I stepped closer the mare under him took notice and yelled out " who the hell is that behind you." Before he could even turn around I had plunged the blade straight into his neck as I pulled out my knife he had dropped on top of the mare pinning her down I barely even blinked as i watched the life leave his eyes as he fell spraying blood on the mare by this point the two mares were screaming for me to spare them let them live to bad that I didn't care this was manehatten the city of corpses they showed have known what they were getting into. Author's Note This is my first story on this site so please tell me what I'm lacking I'll try to frequently update as much as I can. But I also have to thank my co author Applejackisbest for helping me write this chapter //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 2 //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 2 After I had finished of the two mares I decided to take in my surroundings it was just like any Normal hotel room the bed was a king sized big enough to fit at least four pony's of course now it just had three dead pony laying in eachother blood I guess I should start planting the evidence and eracing my presence. as I took out a small bag filled with hairs of miss bell I started to place them all around the scene of the crime not to many though that would just be to much evidence making it look like she was framed of course the knife handle had to be cleaned since it still had my magic resude on the handle as I pulled out a bottle of bleach from my pocked I poured it on the handle using my gloved hoove to wipe it with the bed sheet. then I cleaned the door spilling some bleach on the way making it look like a cover up and that she was panicking i then proceeded to clean the door handle and went back into the main room to put the knife under the bed with my hooves. Before I left the apartment I then again gave it a once over to make sure nothing was a miss I then activated the spell turning me back into sweet old miss bell leaving the room I once again poured bleach onto the outside handle completely eradicating any evidence of me being there. As I turned left down the corridor towards the elevator I thought what else could there be before I leave. As I pondered I entered the elevator hitting the ground floor button with my hoof. Wait that's it the elevator controls on the way up I had used my magic to select the floor but I can't erase the trail that would be to professional for Miss bell it would just draw more attention to the idea that it was a setup I just have to hope that the guard arnt to thorough since loads of pony's use this elevator every day. As I reached the ground floor the elevator let out a ding as the doors opened now how would miss bell act in this situation she's just commited triple homicide and tried to hide the evidence poorly I might add. As I stepped out of the elevator sunny had called out to me. " Is everything okay bell you don't look so good I hope I was wrong about Mr irons so called hook up."she stared at me with a worried expression, perfect I thought to myself if I could smile I would well miss bell what will you do. "Oh hi sunny um everything was just fine haha I decided to leave early to um get more paper yeah, we went through touch paper so I'm going to go home and get some more haha clumsy me." I gave her a smile, I didn't keep eye contact I looked down and let my hair fall in from of my face I gave an awkward groan as I pushed my the tip of my hoof into the ground. "Oh I see." Sunny looked at me she also had let out and awkward smile " well I guess even you make those types of mistakes." She grinned at me she also had a nervous look in her eye I do hope she's catching on. "Well I better go sunny got lots of paper to get haha." Before she could even reply I was making my way towards the front entrance. "Wait bell what's wrong."I ignored her I kept walking down towards the door as she desperately tried to get my attention before I knew it I had reached the door opening it I left and ran as fast as I could out of there going left and right down streets and alleyways making sure no one had followed when I was sure I was safe I dropped the illusion spell. I was back to being me. I took of my mask and held it in my magic what I saw was a black blank canvas like a manaqueuins face no emotions would cross it always just blank, as I stored it into my coat pocket I also dropped my other illusion spells making my fur gray again instead of my metallic black also my cutie mark had changed back from a hammer to a singular paintbrush with red paint on the tip my parents thought it was because I was a good artist I knew better. I left on my hoof gloves since it's cold out might aswell make use of them I looked around the alleyway making sure there wasn't anyone nearby all I found was trash and bits and pieces of leftover food. As I left the alleyway I also realised this would be the last time I would be miss bell a fitting end don't you think as I thought to myself. As I exited the alleyway I opened up my top coat pocket pulling out a pack of smokes and a lighter I lit one up as I walked inhaling the toxic smoke as it entered my lungs as I exhaled I wondered what I should do now should I go home get a shower, maybe some dinner that's sounds good I can always tell my guy tomorrow that the job is done but I'm pretty sure he'll find out soon anyway if his informent in the guard has anything to do with it. With a plan formed I wondered into the night heading back to my low end apartments. It took me a while to figure out where I was and even longer to get to the apartment itself. I had reached the main building that my apartment was located the building itself wasn't much to look at since it looked like the majority of the buildings in manehatten exept that it was more rundown than the others. As I walked in I was already heading for the stairs since there wasn't much to take in anyway. As I walked up to the third floor where my room was located the funny thing is my room was also 309 I guess you could say me and iron fortress had something in common I thought to myself almost worth a smile. As I opened the door to my apartment I walked into the main room where my living room and kitchen combined I didn't have much for furniture other than a couch and table that were located next to each over while in the far corner I had a bookshelf unfortunately I didn't own many books since I'm always so busy to my right was the kitchen standard stove,sink and cupboards and the only thing to separate he kitchen and living was a counter top table where I would cut up my vegetables and prepare my meals. As I took off my clothes I hung up my jacket next to the door. Without my jacket on I just had a normal suit on underneath to give me a more professional look of course I put them in the side room where my Washing machine and dryer were kept so I could clean them tomorrow as I headed towards the bathroom to take a shower and wash of the daily grime. I spent about thirty minutes scrubbing myself clean it was almost three in the morning by the time I got back to my apartment now it was about four in the morning might aswell get some sleep while I could. I walked to the bedroom looking at my apartment it wasn't half bad sure the window sill could use a dusting but other than that I kept it pretty clean hopefully the city of the dead doesn't have much for me to do tomorrow